Donations to Islamic State (IS) jihadists have dramatically declined in the wake of brutal executions by the group that have shocked public opinion in the Middle East, the chief of U.S. intelligence said Monday.

Backed by allied Shiite, Sunni and Iranian fighters, Iraqi security forces launched a large-scale military operation Monday to recapture Saddam Hussein's hometown from the Islamic State (IS) extremist group, a major step in a campaign to reclaim territory in northern Iraq controlled by the militants.

An Egyptian court declared Hamas a “terrorist organization” on Saturday, further isolating the blockaded rulers of the Gaza Strip once openly welcomed by the country's toppled Islamist-dominated government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to Washington on Sunday to press his case against an emerging deal on Iran's nuclear program in a contentious address to the U.S. Congress, which he said he is delivering out of concern for Israel's security.

Backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, Kurdish fighters fought their way Friday into a northeastern Syrian town that was a key stronghold of Islamic State militants, only days after the group abducted dozens of Christians in the volatile region, Syrian activists and Kurdish officials said.

The Syrian government expelled two key U.N. humanitarian staffers because of their contact with armed opposition groups while trying to arrange aid deliveries — a decision that could harm a new effort to secure a six-week truce in the country's largest city, the U.N. humanitarian chief says.